Memorial Articles

The Memorial boasts a staff of subject specialists in all aspects of military history and museum practice.

Our Blogs, Articles and our Encyclopedia allow our historians, curators, librarians and exhibition team to share their knowledge and information on Australian military history, the Memorial's vast collection, recent acquisitions, exhibitions and events.

The Kia Ora coo-ee magazine was a troopship serial published by Sphinx Press, an independent publisher working out of the AIF headquarters in Cairo throughout 1918. Soldiers would submit their pieces and an editorial board would review them before inclusion into that month’s edition.

On the evening of Anzac Day, 1986 Rowan Waddy visited Cresswell Chalmers and his family. The two veterans of Z Special Unit had served on clandestine operations involving reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines in the jungles of Borneo. Ten years after the lifting of the official secrecy regarding their work, they had marched under the banner of Z Special Unit and were able to talk about their experiences – although 30 years of enforced secrecy had built a habit of not talking about the war.

On 19 July 1940 HMAS Sydney II achieved victory over the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the Mediterranean Sea during the battle of Cape Spada.

Sydney was one of three British modified Leander-class light cruisers acquired by the Royal Australian Navy in the years immediately preceding the Second World War. Her sister ships were Perth and Hobart and in Australia they were known as Perth class light cruisers.

It’s a striking image of a fresh-faced young man taking a picture of himself in front of a dresser mirror in Europe 100 years ago. But less than a year later, 21-year-old Captain Thomas Charles Richmond Baker was dead, one of the last Australians killed during the First World War. His story was read by Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin at a Last Post Ceremony at the Memorial.